Queen Victoria owned Bible & bible box... Jan 25 184 (05/05/2011)...

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Queen Victoria owned Bible & bible box... Jan 25 1842!

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Queen Victoria owned Bible & bible box... Jan 25 1842!

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Sold Date: 05/05/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Fraternal, Political, Organizations

This auction will be a hard one to write up and give you all the information you will need to make a buying decision One thing I do know for sure! If you are a collector of Royal Memorabilia or even old bibles this auction should create great interest for you. I purchased this bible a number of years ago in a box lot sale of Queen Victoria 19th century books. It had previously originated from a book shop whose estate was being auctioned off. Believe it not no one even did any research on any of these books. That is at least not the buyers who had no idea about this bible or other treassures in this box. I literally fell into this deal and for a few hundren dollars it was all mine to explore and reseach. Many of the items were 19th century books on the Queen and her family. However, some like this bible were very interesting in deed and have given me much enjoyment. Yes, I am a Royal Memmorabilia collector who is now selling off my collections as my wife and I are soon moving into a retirement home. Everything has it's time and place! My only hope is that these collectible books make their way into other collections and the people who buy them have as much joy as I have had over the years. The Bible box which you see here is authentic early mid 19th century. Obviously it is a royal box intended for possibly a royal bible such as this or at least I think so. I also bought this years ago from an English estate. So, I have used this box for this bible to protect it and it is only fitting that you have it also. The box itself could be worth several hundred dollars to the right buyer as it is a Mahogany inlaid Georgian/Victorian era box with an inlaid royal crown. The inlays are made from fine Ebony's, cherry and other old world wood including Boxwood The old box has some of the best examples of boxwood inlay for that time period. It appears to have the original finish and deos have some inlay missing from the rear of the boxes edge. a couple small stains and a real small wood crack due to age. I have kept this box oiled to help preserve it.

Short Version

Okay, now for the bible! It was a baptismal gift from Queen Victoria to the quests at King Edward VII christening on January 25th 1842. This was the worlds most expensive christening ever and still is. This particular bible was given to Queen Victoria's Lord Chamberlain who was the honorable Earl of De La Warr, George John Sackville. He served as Lord Chamberlain 2 times during the Queens reign. He was the man responsible for putting together this christening event. The inside cover has his signature on it. I would imagine this bible was a prized possession of his until his death. It is hard to imagine what happened to this bible after that, but by unknown accounts it survived through the ages and landed in my hands by good fortune. I have been advised to sell this on Christies auction and I may do so yet. However, I like to buy and sell on eBay and I believe there is a market for higher priced vintage Historical items. We will see! Anyway, If you have any questions which I am sure you will have..just let me know. I have about a dozen pages of documentation that is interesting reading. It mostly pertains to the Christening event, but tells you when the bible was personally handed out by the Queen after the evening meal. The gold embossing says, " A Gift from Her Majesty " Jan 25th 1842. The condition of this bible is really good as it has no foxing or torn pages. The gold embossed cover looks great. However, The spine edges are worn considerably and the front cover came loose a few years back. I knew before that happened it would eventually need some attention from a vintage book binder. I believe there may be a few of these bibles in other collections as I believe Queen Victoria gave out a few dozen of these and how many survived is truly unknown. I have not identified others. I will ship this out to you according to your wishes. You may wish to spend the extra money for more secure shipping. Anyway, I will leave the shipping as is for now and we can...